1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of deburring and more particularly to a device for deburring two edges of a workpiece.
2. Description of the Related Art
Deburring tools are well known in the industry. When a metal object or workpiece is cut or bored, metal fragments called burrs occur on its edges. These burrs have many associated issues including: they detract from the aesthetic look of the finished product; they form a sharp edge that can cause cuts and scrapes; and, when they eventually break off, they can cause electrical shorts or they can cause other failures to mechanisms such as gears and bearings. Burrs are removed in several ways including from passing a drill bit along one of the edges or filing. In addition, a deburring tool sometimes chamfers the edges of the workpiece.
Presently, in an automated machine tool process, a drill bit or end mill is used to deburr one edge of a workpiece after cutting or boring. The automated machine tool is programmed to traverses the rough edges on the top of the work piece with the drill bit or end mile, removing burrs and metal fragments. This process works fine for a top edge, but the workpiece must be reoriented to deburr the bottom edge, requiring an extra operator intervention. The added operator intervention greatly reduces the efficiency of the automated machine tool operation.
Several solutions to this problem have been developed in the past. U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,184 to Heule describes a cutting tool that also has a deburr feature. This tool has one or more cutting knives affixed to a tool. The tool described requires separate operations, one for cutting the bore, one for deburring a first edge of the bore and another for deburring a second edge of the bore.
Another tool is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,100 to Naim. This tool has opposing cutting edges but is not designed to operate at high speeds, as required when the workpiece material is steel. Furthermore, the described tool is adjustable, making it difficult to obtain an accurate setting of the cutting surfaces in relationship to the width of the workpiece.
What is needed is a deburr tool that will accurately deburr and/or chamfer two surfaces of a workpiece simultaneously.